when do you give up?

Come now. Of COURSE we're going to say No.

Perhaps you need support and instruction more immediate and more regular than you can get from an online community like Absolute Write? There must be writer's groups in your area or classes at your local community college where you can do some intense work on this book and then learn something about the business of getting published. Alternatively, you could do distance learning.

Look at some of the crap that's out there and tell me your book isn't better!

Rejection is hard, we've all been through it- But when you say you've been trying for (what feels like) forever- how long is that? A week, a month? Ten years?
Some people have different expectations on how long it should take.

Have you posted your query or your work in SYW? Sometimes there are simple mistakes ( like passive writing, head-hopping etc) that you are unaware of and a non-writer beta will not see.

Are you querying the right agents?

And lastly- are you having unbiased, people, who know something about how a novel should be structured, read it for you and give constructive feedback?

But in answer to your question- if you truly want to be published, then you never give up-

sheadakota said:

Rejection is hard, we've all been through it- But when you say you've been trying for (what feels like) forever- how long is that? A week, a month? Ten years?
Some people have different expectations on how long it should take.

Have you posted your query or your work in SYW? Sometimes there are simple mistakes ( like passive writing, head-hopping etc) that you are unaware of and a non-writer beta will not see.

Are you querying the right agents?

And lastly- are you having unbiased, people, who know something about how a novel should be structured, read it for you and give constructive feedback?

But in answer to your question- if you truly want to be published, then you never give up-

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Do all this (great advice) and also start a second book. Don't work on a sequel though; try a different story. Many people don't sell their first book. Don't get discouraged when you read about people who do, because there are many of us out there who didn't, but who found a home for later books.

If someone truly wants to write, nothing anyone else can say will stop them.

If they don't want to - well, any old excuse will do.

How would you feel if someone said, "Okay, give up. Stop writing. Now." Angry? Relieved? Stubborn? Insulted?

Or would you write anyway?

What Scarlet said. And Shea.

Don't be offended by my asking this, but how old are you? Whenever I see someone with a number like yours in their user name, my first thought is always age. Granted, for all I know you could be fifty haha, but if you're really only thirteen or fourteen, a) you probably have a long way to go and might just not be ready yet, and b) write because you enjoy it.

We have some teenagers on here who have been published, but it's really rare. I wrote my first novel when I was in high school, but it was nowhere near ready. It's taken something like twelve or thirteen years to actually get good enough for me. Some people progress faster, some slower, but publishing isn't the kind of field where you can just write a book and expect that it will automatically be published.

It's great if young adults have read your story, but have adults? Have people who know the industry? No matter how old you are, if you're serious about being published I'd suggest sharing some of it and seeing if there aren't areas you can improve.

In the meantime...writers write because they enjoy it. They want to. Sometimes they have to. Don't let yourself get so caught up in the publishing side that it takes the fun out of the process.

Our (probably) young friend isn't talking about giving up writing. She's asking about giving up on a particular novel. Some novels aren't publishable, particularly first novels, and that's a fact. If you believe you've truly done all you can do to sell this novel, move on to the next one and call this one a practice run. Your next work doesn't have to be a sequel. Keep writing and you'll improve. When you eventually go back to this one, you might be surprised at how much better your writing is for the extra practice and experience. If you still love the story, rework it and try again.

If you are a teenager, queen, I would say don't give up, but be very careful about "feedback" you get at this stage. When I was a teenager, I didn't understand the difference between informed feedback, and feedback from girls who just liked the fact that my main character was a sexy vampire. Seriously. So I tried to publish my earliest novels and fell flat on my face. I waited a few years (but kept writing viciously), and now I'm 22. I still don't have a book published, but I've gotten a number of short pieces accepted, and my longer stuff has gotten much better (it's just not finished yet).

Just remember that no matter how old you are, first novels are often unpublishable, and even with YA novels, you need feedback from older, more credible betas, who know the publishing world a little better and can look past certain elements that younger readers might not be able to. Keep in mind that the way the YA market is these days, teens won't be your only readers. I'm an adult now and I still read those books. So do my 40 year old professors.

CaroGirl said:

Our (probably) young friend isn't talking about giving up writing. She's asking about giving up on a particular novel. Some novels aren't publishable, particularly first novels, and that's a fact. If you believe you've truly done all you can do to sell this novel, move on to the next one and call this one a practice run. Your next work doesn't have to be a sequel. Keep writing and you'll improve. When you eventually go back to this one, you might be surprised at how much better your writing is for the extra practice and experience. If you still love the story, rework it and try again.

Click to expand...

Ah, clever that. Way to be able to like...actually read.

In that case, I'd say write whatever you want. If you want to write a sequel and have friends who want to read it, just go for it and have fun. If you've got something else you're burning to write, do that instead. I wouldn't take the sequel very seriously, though. I'm someone who believes everything we write can be useful even if we aren't trying to have it published, though, so there's that.

If you like the series - keep writing. I have a series of nine books (apx 30K Children's fantasy). I stopped querying on the 1st but loved them so I kept writing. The more I wrote - the better they got. I'm looking forward to going back & editing #1 to see what I can do to improve it & maybe try again.

I was also about fit to be tied at rejections on my 1st novel. The one in my Avi is number 5. Don't ever quit writing.

I know how you feel. The novel I wrote has been rejected over and over again. I'm in the process of trunking it for the time being. But I never stopped writing, even while I was submitting it. I have a first draft to its sequel written, a few chapters to another sequel written, and I'm currently working on the prequel. I love the characters and the world and though this particular novel might not be gathering any agents' attention, by continuing to write about the characters, I'm improving not only my writing, but my knowledge of this world. Maybe the prequel will be the one that gets an agent. If that's the case, and they can sell the idea of series to a publisher, then I already have several written and waiting.

Oh, we're certainly not saying you should. The users here tend to be a bit harsher than on other sites, and that's honestly what you need: someone who will rip your story apart and tell you what's not working. Unfortunately, compliments aren't always honest, and they aren't always the best representation of your work. I say this out of love, I really do. The best thing anyone can do for a writer is make them aware of the problems, and if the writer is resilient, he or she will improve. If not, there wasn't much that could be done in the first place. I remember in a workshop, I told another student that his short story read like a Stephanie Meyer book, and he looked like I'd ripped his guts out. But honestly, his work improved after that. Don't give up, but don't dive into this head first without making sure it's your best work.

I think most successful authors had lots of "writing practice" (unpublished books, manuscript and book proposal rejections) before they finally succeeded. And even after they were published, they still get rejected and they still may have to convince literary agents and publishers to publish their next book!

One of my favorite authors had 6 books published, and her agent refused to send out her 7th. He thought it wouldn't sell. So did several other agents; she sent it directly to an editor, who published it. It became a bestseller!

Remember: even if your book doesn't get published, it made you a better writer and gave you more experience in the publishing field. And, you're joining the ranks of "battle hardened writers."

Keep your writing dukes up....

I don't mean to be glib, but this is one of my favorite quotations:

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” ~ Confucius